Philosophical Mark Webber rues first-corner lapse

Mark Webber was left to rue a critical error as he finished second at the Malaysian Grand Prix behind Red Bull team-mate Sebastian Vettel.

The Australian, who started from pole, did not realise how close Vettel was at the first corner and the German slipped by into a lead he held to the end.

"The start cost me victory," Webber said. "I got a bit of wheelspin and Seb worked the slipstream well.

"After that I had to settle. But this is a sensational result for the team."

After overtaking his team-mate, Vettel rarely looked back and led throughout to ensure his and Red Bull's first maximum haul of the new season.

And while previous races had exposed Red Bull's unreliability, Vettel and Webber were able to bring their cars home without incident for a hard-earned one-two.

We deserved to win in Malaysia - Vettel

"We have had a couple of races where its been difficult for us to have a clean weekend for differing reasons, whether it's a bit of weather, a bit of reliability, or different things here and there," said Webber.

"But no-one wants a shopping list of excuses, we've got to get results. We haven't got them in the past because we haven't been prepared - well, we were prepared today and we blew everyone away."

The win takes Vettel up to third in the drivers' championship on 37 points, two off leader Felipe Massa of Ferrari, while Red Bull move up to third in the constructors' championship too.

And Webber, on 24 points in the championship, praised the team's efforts - admitting he had little choice but to sit in behind Vettel after losing position on that first corner.

"When the first car is leading, he sort of has priority - or the luxury - of choosing when he can stop," he said. "Obviously if I had have stopped first there was a big chance I could jump Sebastian, but that would not have been fair for the guy who was leading.

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